Process and apparatus for reducing coal.



H. ADAMS. PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR REDUCING COAL.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-24' 19 5- Patented Feb. 11, 1919.

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APPLICATION FILED AUG.24, I915.

Patented Feb. 11, 1919.

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APPLICATION FILED AUGIZ4. I915.

Patented Feb. 11, 1919.

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HENRY ADAMS, OF STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT, ASSTGNOR TO THE ADAMS MINING- MACHINERY CORPORATION, OF NEW LONDON, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR REDUCING COAL."

Specification of Letters Patent.

1,293,654.. Patented net. ii, rare.

. Application filed August 24, 1915. Serial No. 47,064.

To all whom it may concern: 1 production of the steam sizes and the small Be it known that I, HENRY ADAMs, a production of stove and nut sizes by the citizen of the United States, and a resident crusher when reducing the egg size. of Stamford, county of Fairfield, and State of Connecticut, have invented'certain new broken in a crusher will show that the and useful Improvements in Processes and crusher has left in the pieces of coal many Apparatus for Reducing Goal, of which the minute fractures, probably due to the action following is a specification, reference being of the rolls in exerting pressure on opposite had to the accompanying drawings, which sides of the lumps of coal. As a consequence 60 form a part hereof. of this, a crumbling of the coal and a result- This invention relates to a new and iming degradation in size of such coal is proproved process and apparatus for reducing duced in the subsequent handling and shipcoal as it comes from the mine' into comment of the coal accompanied by a producmercial sizes, and also for grading the coal tion of fines and waste that is most undesir- 65 Again, inspection of coal that has been 55 thus reduced and separating it into the Various commercial sizes and for removing impurities therefrom- According to the process heretofore in vogue for reducing coal into commercial sizes the coal, in mined sizes, is passed through a breaker provided with crushing rolls between which the coal passes and is reduced by the crushing power of the rolls. The crusher is generally a complicated machine and is costly to install and operate.

Moreover, its action upon the coal is attended with a number of disadvantages.

In the first place its action cannot be conovercome or effectively diminished, although effort is sometimes made to lessen it by handling the coal as few times as possible in its journey from the crusher to the furnace.

Furthermore, in the production of steam sizes of coal, buckwheat andsmaller, in a crusher it will be found that a largeproportion of the pieces, sometimes as high as seventy-five per cent. are flat or nearly so.

trolled so as to produce at will a reasonably In a bed of such coal the pieces pack closely fixed proportion of particular sizes of coal together and so provide voids or spaces beto suit market demands. Consequently, tween the pieces that are insufiicient in I .there is often an over production of a size amount to permit ready combustion without or sizes for which there is no ready market, forced draft. When such coal is burned in and storage and'extra handling of such exa furnace a forced draft created by some cess product is necessary. This entails an mechanical means is therefore required to added expense. There appears, also, to be drive the air in sufficient quantity through a growing demand for steam sizes and a the bed of coal. diminishing demand for larger'sizes, such In the applicants process, the objections as egg, and it would, therefore, be desirable noted in the foregoing are obviated or overto reduce the egg so as to obtain from it pomeyto a substantial degree. In accordance an increased amount of steam. sizes if this withthe applicants invention the crusher of could be done economically. Such ecothe prior art with its crushing rolls is not nomic reduction would be accomplished if, used at all. The coal, in lump or a smaller in reducing the egg to obtain the steam sizes size, is caused to fiy at high speed against a 96 a suitable proportion of stove and nut sizesv breaking face whereby the coal is broken or could also be produced, the higher prices shattered into smaller pieces of varying realized for these latter sizes compensating sizes. The coal/thus broken is caused to for the lower prices realized for the steam travel from the breaking face substantially sizes. But the crusher, heretofore in general free from pulverizing or breaking concus- 10 use, does not reliably lend itself to such sion and attrition between the largest and I economic reduction because of the excess the smaller broken pleces and. to separate into gradations. If such separation into gradations is not sufiiciently complete for commercial purposes, further separation into the various commercial s1zes may be made, and if the largest size of the broken coal is too large for the market it may be subjected to another breaking operation, as in a second apparatus. Coal broken in the manner described is remarkably free from the internal fractures that characterize coal that has been reduced in a crusher. The sudden violent blow imparted to the'lumps of coal by the breaking face against which they are hurled shatters them into fragments or pieces but in large measure leaves the broken pieces free from these internal fractures and structurally strong. This coal may, therefore, be handled and shipped without suffering any such degradation of size and loss as is suffered by crusher reduced coal underlike circumstances.

1 Moreover, in reducing coal in accordance with the present invention there is a very noticeable absence of flatness in the steam sizes as compared with coal of correspondingsizes produced in a crusher, so that in the former the voids are increased some three and a half per cent. This is an impor-' tant advantage because it'substantially facilitates the passage of air through the bed of such coal in the furnace and obviates or reduces the need of forced draft.

Furthermore, in carrying out the process of the present invention it is possible to control, to a substantial degree the production of the smaller sizes. vThis may be done by increasing or decreasing the force with which the coal is hurled against the breaking face. The greater this force is, within lim its, the greater is the proportion of the smaller sizes produced. One convenient way of bringing about the desired result is to .increase or decrease the speed of the centrifugal table employed as the projector to hurl the coal against the breaking face.

I drawings are shown the preferred form of apparatus with two modifications, such apparatus constituting part of the present invention.

Figure 1 is a plan view of the preferred form of apparatus.

Fig. 2 1s a central sectional elevation thereof.

Another way is to increase or decrease'the dis-' tance between the periphery of the centrifu Fig. 3 is a-diagrammatic representation in sectional elevation showing a separator and gravity picker.

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the structure shown in Fig. 1 looking toward the left.

Figs. 5 and 6 are central sectional elevations showing modified forms of apparatus.

Fig. 7 is a fragmental plan view of the apparatus shown in Fig. 6.

Referring now more particularly to the structure as shown in Figs. 1 to 4.- inclusive, 1 is a rotating or centrifugal table carried on the vertical shaft 2 which is supported in suitable bearings. This shaft is driven by convenient means such as the electric motor 3 suitably. connected with the shaft 2, as-

through the belt 1 and bevel gear wheels 5 and 6, the wheel 6 being fixed on the shaft 2 per 8.

Spaced apart from the table 1 and surrounding the table is a breakin face for shattering or breaking the coa In the present instance, this breaking face comprises a series of anvils 9 which rest upona base 10 supported on angle beams, such as 1.1 and 12, carried by pillars, suchas 13 and 14. The anvils may be provided with strengthening ribs 44. In the front or vertical faces of each of the anvils 9 are fixed a series of pins or studs 15. These are shown in the drawings as being threaded so as to screw into place and be separately res movable either for repair or for varying the number of studs in the breaking face. Beneath the anvils 9 and suitably supported is an inverted conical screen 16 which is made up of a series of rods connected together by U two transverse tie rods 17. This screen may be variously constructed but its purpose is to receive the brokencoal as it travels from the anvils, carrying the largest broken pieces to a central hopper 18 and permitting the smaller broken pieces-to pass through the screen and thereby immediately separate from these largest broken pieces. 19, 20, 21, 22a-nd 23 are a series of guides which partly surround the screen 16 on one side and extend outward and downward therefrom. These guides receive the broken coal as it passes through the screen 16 and'conduct it to a shaking separator 21. A similar set of guides 25, 26, 27, 28 and 29 is arranged on the opposite sideof the screen16 so that all the broken coal passing through the screen falls on to the guides; These guides may vary in number but it is preferable to use several in order to divide the coal into several streams as it falls from the screen 16,

thereby reducing attrition between the means of the shaking separator 24,the fines and dust passing through the separator to a conveyor which leads to the culm bank. The coal in its separated sizes is delivered from the separator 24 to a gravity picker 36 of any well known type whereby the heavier impurities, such as slate, bone and rock, are removed from the coal. These impurities are carried away by conveyers such as 37 and 38, the coal in its separated sizes;

being delivered by the gravity picker to conveyers, such as 39 and 40.

41 is a cover for the anvils. 42 is a controller' for the motor 3 by means of which the speed of the table 1 may be regulated. 43 is a conveyer to receive from the hopper 18 the coal delivered thereto.

In the operation of the machine the coal in lump or smaller size is delivered from the hopper 8 on to therotating table 1 where it is caught by the wings 7 and carried around with the table. The centrifugal force thus imparted to the coal throws it outward with great force against the breaking face whereby it is broken into smaller pieces of varying sizes. These broken pieces then fall upon the screen 16, the largest of such pieces traveling down the screen to the hopper 18 which delivers them to the conveyer 43. The smaller broken pieces travel to and through the screen 16 on to the guides 19, etc., and 25, etc., from which they are delivered to the shaking separator 24 for separation thereby into various commercial sizes and subsequent delivery to the gravity picker 36 whence they are delivered to the conveyers 39, etc. If the coal delivered to the conveyer 43 re- -quires further reduction, it may be fed to another machine and reduced to smaller sizes in a similar manner.

In reducing the coal in the manner'described in the foregoing, the large pieces of coal fly with great speed against the breaking face and the broken pieces travel with great speed to the screen 16 through which i or down which they pass. In this movement the coal is substantially free from pulverizing and breaking concussion and attrition between the largest and the smaller broken pieces and waste is reduced to a mlmmum.

While a centrifugal table, as shown, is preferred as the best type of projector for imparting movement to the coal in its travel against the breaking face, the process may 5 be carried out in connection with other types of projector or the coal may even be dropped from a suitable height upon a breaking face of appropriate construction and arrange ment.

By varying the speed of the centifugal table, the impact of the coal against the breaking face may be regulated. This controls the amount of smaller sizes produced. The amount of the smaller sizes produced may be diminished by removing some of the studs in the anvils and may also be diminished by increasing the distance between the breaking face and the periphery of the centrifugal table. The anvils are separately movable and, if desired, they may be moved farther away from the table and one or more anvils added to the ring which they form. This would diminish the breaking impact of the coal.

In the modification shown in Fig. 5, the general arrangement is similar to that shown in Figs. 1 and 2 but in Fig. 5 the table 45 has a conical upper surfaceand there is a difference in the construction of the anvils and in the arrangement of some of the guides. In Fig. 5 the anvils 46 are pierced with holes 47 through which much of the smaller sizes of broken coal may pass to guides 48, 49 and 50 and guides 51, 52 and 53, whereby they are delivered, as before, to the shaking separator 24. 54, 55 56 and 57 are guides for delivering the smaller broke-n pieces that fall upon and pass through the screen 58 either directly to the separator 24 or to conveyers which deliver them to said separator.

In the modification shown in Figs. 6 and 7 the anvils 59 are similar to those shown in Figs. 1 and 2 but there is a difference in the construction and arrangement of the centrifugal table and no screen is employed such as the screen 16. In Figs. 6 and 7 the centrifugal table 60 is provided with openings or slots 61 near its periphery and the edge of the table extends close to the anvils 59. The table is provided with wings similar to the wings 7 of table 1. The coal is fed to the table, not centrally as in Figs. 1 and 2, but at two points on opposite sides of the center through the hopper 62 and its outlets 63 and 64. As the broken coal rebounds from the anvils it falls upon the table and the smaller pieces pass through the slots 61 and out along the guides 65, 66, 67 and 68 by which it is conducted directly or through conveyers, such as the conveyer 69, to the shaking separator 24 and then to a gravity picker. coal which the anvils have failed to break into ieces sufficiently small to pass through the slots 61 are again hurled by the table against the anvils and broken into smaller pieces which are able to pass through the slots of the table when they rebound from the anvils. The feed of the coal to the The pieces of broken table 60 at two opposite points through the outlets 63'and 64 is provided inorder that the coal passing on to the table and thence against the anv'ils may not interfere with the broken coal rebounding from the anvils to the table.

What I claim is:

1. A process for reducing coal to different sizes consisting in centrifugally breaking lumps of coal against an impact surface; returning by impact action oversized lumps to be rebroken; directly discharging by impact action the under size pieces and assorting said undersize pieces to the desired sizes during a continuous operation.

2. In an apparatus for reducing coal to commercial sizes, the combination of a cirposed beneath said screen and coaxial therewith. v

This specification signed this 19th day of August A. D. 1915.

HENRY 

